linguine with spinach, bacon, garlic and stracciatella cheese

I have recently fallen in love with Stracciatella Cheese. The very special and very expensive mozzarella cream concoction that is made by Puglia cheese.

Whats not to love about the finest quality mozzarella bits blended with double cream?

Thinking up recipes to use the two tubs I acquired has been so much fun. So much fun until I get on the scale and see the effect of indulging in this totally rich and decadent dairy product.

Anyway, be that as it may, I thought up this pasta recipe for it and it was rather tasty.

What you need to make this: (qantities for two people)

200gm linguine

1 x packet baby leaf spinach (200gm)

1/2 packet bacon (about 5 rashes) – cut up into small cubes

1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

2 – 3 cloves of garlic (it needs to be garlicky)

1/2 a tub Stracciatella cheese (125gm) – or just use cream and sprinkle over parmesan

How to make this:

* One little thing I have to say about making pasta which I love and miss is the speed in which it takes to knock up a meal. I have hardly cooked it in the last couple of years in an endeavour to reduce my carb consumption at night. You may also notice how few (in fact only two) pasta recipes I have on this blog. This is not because I dont love it. I do, rather too much I’m afraid.

pretty much simultaneously boil water for the pasta, heat another pan with a bit of water to blanch the spinach (I use one frying pan for the spinach, then the bacon and then for the sauce)

blanch the spinach for a couple of minutes until it has lilted but is still a bright green. Its nice to retain some of the ‘spinachy-ness’ of it and then drain in a colander. When its drained lightly chop it up

Boil the linguine until al dente

using the same pan as the spinach (but dried) – fry the bacon with a dash of olive oil if needs be until crispy and then set aside

again in the same pan, add a splash of olive oil and fry the chilli and garlic briefly and then add the drained and chopped up spinach

working quickly, stir in the Stacciatella cheese (or cream), add the pasta and the bacon to the pan and mix altogether

Dont over work it because as the mozzarella melts it has a tendency to clump a bit, but i think that is rather nice